Reports, Dashboards and Data Exports

Which one do you want

Three tools that look similar and answer different questions. Picking the wrong one is the usual reason a number is hard to get at.

A dashboard is for numbers you look at repeatedly: enrollment this month against last, outstanding balance, attendance rate. It is pinned, visual, and refreshes itself. If you find yourself running the same report every Monday, it belongs on a dashboard instead.

A custom report is for a question nobody anticipated. You pick the entity, the columns and the filters, and you get a table you can sort and export. It is the right tool for a one-off, and for anything with conditions a dashboard widget cannot express.

An export is for getting data out to somewhere else entirely: an accountant, a spreadsheet, another system. Imports run the same way in reverse, and are how most schools get their existing students in on day one.

Dashboards

Build your own dashboard from the available widgets, and pin the ones you check often to the sidebar. Different roles want different numbers, so dashboards are per user rather than per workspace.

Adding a new dashboard

Inside a dashboard record

The record is organised into tabs: Finances, Marketing, Sales, Classes, Students, Retention, Teachers. Each one is scoped to this record, so what you see is only this record's data.

Finances

Marketing

Sales

Classes

Students

Retention

Teachers

Custom Reports

What are Custom Reports?

Build your own tabular reports across students, accounts, instructors, classes, invoices, payments, and attendance. Pick the columns you need, filter, sort, and save the configuration so the exact view is always one click away. Share read-only snapshots via a public link, schedule recurring deliveries by email, text, or WhatsApp, and pin the most-used reports straight to the sidebar.

For questions the standard dashboards do not answer. Choose the fields, the filters and the grouping, save it, and pin it if you will run it again. Saved reports can be exported.

Adding a new custom report

Inside a custom report record

Key fields

Root entity - Decides what each row represents. Pick students for one row per student; pick Invoices for one row per invoice; etc. You can join the root to related entities (e.g. add the student's account name) but every row stays anchored to one root record.
Columns - The fields shown on the report. Drag from the left rail to add; drag rows up/down to reorder. Each column can have a custom display label without renaming the underlying field.
Filters - Combine field × operator × value rules. All conditions are AND'd together. Operators are filtered to those that make sense for the field type (Contains for text, greater/less than for numbers and dates).
Sort - Multi-column. Reports return rows in the configured order; remove the sort to fall back to the default (creation order, newest first).
Public link - Generates a token-only URL anyone can open without an alinaflow login. Useful for sharing a debt or attendance view with a bookkeeper or board member. Revoke any time.
Schedule - Run the report on a Daily / Weekly / Monthly cadence and deliver a snapshot to recipients by email, text, or WhatsApp. Recipients don't need an alinaflow account - the link in the message lets them download directly.
Pin to sidebar - Surfaces this report (or a Dashboard) directly under the 'Reports & Data' menu group. Visibility still respects role assignments: pinned reports only show for users who can see them.

Exports / Imports

What is Exports / Imports?

alinaflow ships a complete daily snapshot of your data to a destination you own (Google Drive today; SharePoint and SFTP soon). Use it to feed BI tools, give your accountant nightly invoices/payments CSVs, archive signed contracts for compliance, or simply keep a copy outside the platform. Imports are handled by our team - email support and we migrate you for free. Your data is yours.

The Exports / Imports screen in alinaflow

Getting data in and out. Imports map your columns to alinaflow fields, so a spreadsheet from another system does not need reshaping first. Exports cover everything and can run on a schedule to your own storage, which is the safest way to keep a copy you control.

Reports and data